


The Art of Walking Away

by EllieL



Category: A Discovery of Witches (TV), All Souls Trilogy - Deborah Harkness
Genre: F/M, Matthew POV, UST, Wrist Kiss, s1ep2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-28 08:44:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17179694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllieL/pseuds/EllieL
Summary: It was a courtly gesture out of another century, another lifetime.





	The Art of Walking Away

**Author's Note:**

> So: American who finally got a little bit of the series, and love it! Have a feeling there's going to be a lot more series-based fic coming in addition to book-based, once it all arrives here.

It was a courtly gesture out of another century, another lifetime. He’d done it almost without thinking, until his lips were millimeters from her humming radial artery. Her pulse suddenly surged, her breath nearly stopped, and his teeth were so very very close to her flesh. Her blood.

 

It was heady, nearly intoxicating. More than the mere rhythm of her heart, there was something else, calling like a siren, vibrating like a harpstring. And the scent of her, bright and sweet, washes over him.

 

He could drown here.

 

Diana doesn’t flinch or try to pull away from him. As his lips retreated from her skin, she breathed again, her heart slowed. Her bright clear blue eyes meet his, wide and unsure of the meaning of his gesture but not the trust she’d placed in him this afternoon.

 

She’s felt something too. Not as he’s felt it, not some dark urge to devour that must be resisted at all costs, but the frisson between them. A fire sparking into existence. It might consume them both if he’s not careful.

 

He dares just a hint of a smile, almost involuntary. This test has been passed, today’s temptation resisted. He’s even able to give her a nod of farewell, walk away. He doesn’t have her abilities, but he can feel her watching as he goes, almost turns back around, but he’s practiced in walking away. One foot in front of the other, steady, until he can no longer hear the rhythm of her heart.

 

His desire to listen to its steady song will draw him back, though, as surely as the bells of Oxford will ring each evening.

***


End file.
